With a whole forum full of techies, I would have expected at least one of you guys to have automated your home!
But I don't think anyone has.. has anyone done it or looked in to doing it, is X10 still the choice as I wasn't that impressed when I looked a few years back..
If I had my own place and wasn't renting I definitely would look into it more, although I'm surprised no one has had a go yet. I have a feeling Eggtastico might have looked into it a while back?
I have looked into this a couple of times. Right now I dont have enough money to even consider it but I was looking at maybe using an arduino to initially interface with my burglar alarm. My basic idea is to have it turn all of the lights on in the house when the alarm goes off and also phone me so I can then either call the police or a neighbour.
The only thing holding me back right now is the cost, money is very tight. I already have my AV setup in a central space so everything can work from there. I was looking into HDMI over IP rather than just cat6 so I could use network cables already hooked up via a router but again cost is a major factor. Eventually I'll get it all done.
I half expect automation to become more popular when those £20-30 computers start to get mass produced. Would be easy to install those in different rooms to act as controllers etc?
A guy I work with has a lot of stuff, to me though a lot of it just seems like a giant waste of money and unbelievably lazy, I do not consider it a chore to dim the lights by getting up to use the switch on the wall :lol:
Quote from: zpyder on April 29, 2012, 14:34:14 PM
I half expect automation to become more popular when those £20-30 computers start to get mass produced. Would be easy to install those in different rooms to act as controllers etc?
I think they'd be a bit overkill - though someone will likely use them. Arduino as mentioned above might be useful. The raspberry pi might be more useful for actually controlling the whole set up I'd have thought.
I'm going to look into doing something with my place - not sure I'll go for the full home automation thing yet but certainly want something along the lines of the arduino in the living room, with an IR transmitter on and a wi-fi connection.
I've got an IR light/dimmer switch and want to just have an iphone app that will act as a universal remote for the TV, hifi etc... and the lights - just nicer to have everything on one remote. I figured having an IR switch for the lights saves faffing about with wiring etc... next step, if it works, would be to place another in my bedroom etc.. then if I find I actually make use of it then I'll look into getting some proper home automation kit.
I think the thing with X10 is that you can start from a few devices and keep adding, and there is support for pretty much any type of device, you can link them all up, and use remotes, phones and the internet to control them.
However total cost of purchase is probably quite high and it's reliant on your house mains lines playing nicely, and I'd expect there to be something other than X10 as well, surely X10 isn't the only one?
My Raspberry Pi turns up in a month and although I will be able to do a lot of home automation it's too new to be anything great soon, and I expect home automation my be a bit beyond my knowledge. Also you'd either need to run wires to each device or have multiple Pi's, which isn't what I want to end up doing.
Obviously as more and more I/O boards are created for the Pi it could make automation of certain tasks really flexible.
If you used pi's each room could be independent. After all you don't want the rooms to talk to each other, next thing you know they'll have decided the humans are a risk and will turn the air conditioning down to "kill" while you sleep...
I definitely want to use dedicated wiring so it'll be a more reliable and cheaper alternative to using specialist accessories.
x10 is to expensive in the UK, have you looked at http://www.lightwaverf.com/buynow.php
I have a trade account, so may be able to help you save a few pennies if you dont mind them being shipped
to me & then shipped on to you.
Quote from: zpyder on April 29, 2012, 16:56:32 PM
If you used pi's each room could be independent. After all you don't want the rooms to talk to each other, next thing you know they'll have decided the humans are a risk and will turn the air conditioning down to "kill" while you sleep...
Apart from the risk of the rooms becoming self aware, I'd want all the rooms to be linked, the example being if I went out the house I'd like to press a button to arm the alarm and turn off all of the lights etc..
I'll have a proper look at lightwave later, but after a quick look the options for that system seemed much more limited..
Regarding dedicated wiring at the moment I'm in rented accommodation although looking to change that in the next year or two, but there are some things I want to automate now..
I have an automated food maker.
I married the bitch and I've been fed daily ever since.
My first automation was a switch in the end of a cord that switched on radio and lights, I hung it on a nail by the door to switch on while entering and when bring the switch into the room and hang it on nail by the bed, easy to reach while in bed :D
I have all the lamps in the living room hooked up to an RF dimmer using a set of cheap remote plug socket controllers, frustratingly my Harmony cant control them, if it did I'd be in a pretty good place, as it is I still need 2 remotes.
Quote from: Eagle on April 30, 2012, 00:04:14 AM
I have an automated food maker.
I married the bitch and I've been fed daily ever since.
I hear those are really expensive though and the negatives often outweigh the benefits
Quote from: addictweb on April 30, 2012, 12:38:20 PM
I have all the lamps in the living room hooked up to an RF dimmer using a set of cheap remote plug socket controllers, frustratingly my Harmony cant control them, if it did I'd be in a pretty good place, as it is I still need 2 remotes.
I've got the harmony for my AV setup in my living room and cheap remote switches in the bedroom. However the one in the bedroom (that controls lights, speakers and computer power) has decided on some sensors you need to be about 2 feet away for it to work!
And in the living room I have no lighting automation but want it, hence me starting up this conversation, as this is the second set of remotes I have broken now and before getting a 3rd I wanted to look at the options to meet my longer term goal of being uber lazy and geeky!
what do you want automate?
I looked at x10 & thought it was expensive as the UK isnt a big marrket, our sockets arent massed produced.
lightwaveRF pretty much does everything as does z-wave (though expensive).
You may also want to look at zigbee, which is a recognised worldwide standard that allows anyone to design for it.
I've got a cheap £20 IR light switch to go in my lounge and was looking at getting an arduino or similar + IR transmitter and then making a simple iphone app that would allow me to turn the lights on/off and control the TV, HIFI etc..
the lightvare RF stuff looks good and comes with its own separate app - one thing I'm wondering is whether it would be straightforward enough to send the same commands from my own app. For IR stuff most of the codes etc.. required are available it seems or can be found using an IR reciever- I guess to incorporate the lightwave stuff into the same app might potentially require a bit of faffing...
Initially I just want to make my own iphone app to turn the phone into a universal remote and control the lights however extending it later and being able to control all the lights in the house and a few sockets would be cool.
Quote from: Eggtastico on May 01, 2012, 08:09:19 AM
what do you want automate?
I looked at x10 & thought it was expensive as the UK isnt a big marrket, our sockets arent massed produced.
lightwaveRF pretty much does everything as does z-wave (though expensive).
You may also want to look at zigbee, which is a recognised worldwide standard that allows anyone to design for it.
I agree X10 is expensive for UK fittings, which was half the reason for posting on here to see other peoples thoughts/experiences..
Ideally I want a system that I can expand as I go, which allows things from light control to alarm systems, and single button activations..
I.e.
Alarm - Arm alarm, turn off lights, close curtains, lock doors, and allow to monitor status from remote locations..
Home cinema - Close curtains, dim lights, turn on correct equipment.
Bed time - Go to bed, turn off all lights arm zone 1 alarm lock doors, heating off
Maybe automated lighting based on movement around the house.. Sensors would be dual purpose (alarm and lighting)
Like I said I wont do all this from day one, but will add to it as time/money/location suits providing I can find a system that works and doesn't cost silly money..
Will take a look at zigbee, cheers for the suggestion
Regarding the IR light switch and TV HIFI etc, have you thought about just using a harmony remote? It should do what you want out of the box, although light dimmer location may require something to redirect the IR signal?
that would ruin the fun of building a solution - plus using the iphone + an arduino is cheaper as I already have the phone :)
ideally, if I did go down the automation route too, then I'd want to use/add to the same app - control the TV, lights and anything else from the phone.
about hooking up one of these bad boys to your alarm system.
I wouldn't. Folk have done plenty of research into X10 type stuff and the encryption (if any is used) is pretty damn weak. I've read articles where they just drove around the suburbs that most of silicon valley folk live and hoovered a whole heap of what looked like alarm codes and other such joyous things.
Even those that didn't hook up such things the authentication behind it meant they had control over their house just by sitting outside in a van.
Edit: my bad it wasn't a van :)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/hacking-home-automation/
It's deffinately something to consider, but to be honest in the uk market the use of this is so small the chance that someone would use it is slim to none, and they would need to be a neighbour as well!
Quote from: M3ta7h3ad on May 02, 2012, 21:01:02 PM
about hooking up one of these bad boys to your alarm system.
I wouldn't. Folk have done plenty of research into X10 type stuff and the encryption (if any is used) is pretty damn weak. I've read articles where they just drove around the suburbs that most of silicon valley folk live and hoovered a whole heap of what looked like alarm codes and other such joyous things.
Even those that didn't hook up such things the authentication behind it meant they had control over their house just by sitting outside in a van.
Edit: my bad it wasn't a van :)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/hacking-home-automation/
For anyone capable of doing it, breaking into my 1 bedroom flat isn't going to be worth their while.
Granted, if you lived in a mansion in California with a few supercars in the garage etc.. then perhaps you would need to worry but the sort of burglar that might target me isn't sophisticated enough. (plus I wouldn't be automating locks etc..)